January 18, 2011

In One Word, It’s “Boccaccesco”

The right word in Italian is “boccaccesco,” which derives from the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (= in the style of Boccaccio), and roughly means “licentious,” “lascivious.” But this is not a literary post. Instead it is a brief note on today’s Italian politics. Yes, all this Berlusconi stuff is getting more and more boccaccesco—and silly, crazy, grotesque, and you name it. Nevertheless, to be honest and straightforward, I think that politics is politics, not moralism or good taste or “esthetic sense.” I repeat I don’t want to be hypocrite about that, nor, on the other hand, would I want to play the cynic and to behave the way Franklin D. Roosevelt did when in 1939 supposedly remarked that “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch…” But then again, since there is no alternative to Berlusconi (please, see my previousposts on the subject), paraphrasing FDR I’d put it this way: Berlusconi may be … whatever you want, but he’s our … whatever you want.

9 comments:

I am sorry to disagree but in Italy we have plenty of politicians better than Berlusconi. Give anyone else the same parliamentary seats and popular consensus that Berlusconi has had in the last couple of years and he/she will do much better.I am ashamed of him, as a politician and as a human being. Italy deserves better. We will not miss him.

Even before Boccaccio, there were the Roman Emperors. Perhaps not coincidentally, Berlusconi was nicknamed "Caesar" by some of his minions.

Anyway, the politicians should be evaluated for their politics, not private life. What consenting adults do in their homes shouldn't be anybody's else business.

If it's proved that something illegal took place (underage girls, or abuse of power in the "Ruby" case), well, the law must the same for everybody, isn't it?

What bothers me is the hypocrisy of some who made campaigns calling for harsher punishment for prostitution, or underage sex. They wanted chemical castration, fines or jail for prostitutes' clients, the newspaper Libero published on first page a list of hundreds of names of alleged pedophiles. Now many of these moralists are making excuses for Berlusconi.

Of course, there are a lot of politicians who are better than B. But this isn’t the real problem. The real issue, as it applies to this scenario, is that there is no alternative to the ruling center-right coalition, which in turn, unfortunately, is inconceivable (at the moment) without Berlusconi.

Berlusconi's critics have long claimed that without him, his Popolo della Libertà party would collapse. His supporters on the contrary affirm that the party has a strong popular support, even without him.

Strange that you, rob, share the point of view of B's critics.

On the possibility of alternatives to B: in a recent interview, Frattini, one of the most clever man of the party, when asked who will be B's successor, answered that there would be no single figure, but a group of people would share the leadership of the center-left coalition. In my view, that was his opening move in the post-Berlusconian power game.

Other people are making their moves. Some are distancing from B, Fini, for example, who joined Casini in a center-center-right alliance. Even the Lega, that in the past years has been loyally on B's side, is distancing itself, favoring an early election, which B wants on the contrary to avoid.

Where B to retire soon from the political scene, either for health or judicial problems, it's easy to imagine a multi-headed party lead by a group of center-right figures (Tremonti, Maroni, Frattini, Casini, etc.) that could easily take B's place.

After all, in the liberal democracies parties are usually lead by a group of figures; parties based on personality cult are more typical of autocratic regimes.

Berlusconi is a paradox. He is capable of great things and sometimes of making great speeches, but he is also capable of belittling himself beyond all reason to score a few points against hypocrisy, if not to make a mockery of the world in general.

Because of this, unfortunately, he might not be remembered for the good things he did. But maybe this doesn't bother him either. He is too busy enjoying himself to bother about writing memoirs, or to worry about how posterity will consider him.

Ironically he will be hard to replace, no matter how capable others consider themselves. No doubt in certain ways he will be absolutely impossible to replace.

”Where B to retire soon from the political scene, either for health or judicial problems, it's easy to imagine a multi-headed party lead by a group of center-right figures (Tremonti, Maroni, Frattini, Casini, etc.) that could easily take B's place.”

Easily? I wish it was an easy task. Tremonti, Frattini, and above all, in my view, Formigoni could very likely succeed to the presidency, but as long as they don’t identify themselves as Berlusconi’s opponents, which is impossible as long as B. is in charge… I would also like to see Casini play the game …, but he has been (and still is) an outspoken opponent of B.

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The name of this blog indicates a place where people seek their bearings, but this is not a site where they can actually find them—everyone is, or should be, his own wind rose.
Previous incarnations of this blog: here and here.

About Me
I have been a High School teacher of History and Italian almost all my working life. Now that I am retired, I can finally spend more time doing what I love most: writing.
In my Twitter profile I describe myself as “European by birth, American by philosophy,” which after all is quite an accurate description. Perhaps it also supports the adage that brevity is the soul of wit.
I live in the Venice area with my wife, my daughter, and my dog, a Golden Retriever that swims like a fish and is crazy about tennis balls.
I am currently a contributor/columnist at Atlantico.
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«Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV, X
By Order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania for the State House in Philada»
1752

«If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening ...
all over this land,
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between all of my brothers and my sisters
All over this land.
...
It's a bell of freedom»Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
["If I Had a Hammer"]

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. (...)"